Wright Kind of Trouble, page 17
“I want this. I want you,” I told her. “I don’t care about you going to Harvard. I don’t care about your family. I don’t care about my family.”
Her eyes glistened with delight at the words. “You want me?”
“I have for three years, baby girl.”
She nodded. “And my brothers?”
“Fuck ’em,” I said inelegantly. She snorted a laugh. “We’ll make it work.”
“Oh my God,” she said on a laugh. “Shut up! They’re going to hear you. They’re already freaking out.”
“We won’t tell them like this,” I said. “You can tell them however you want. But I couldn’t go another day without letting you know.”
“That you want me,” she repeated blissfully.
“I’m yours. I always have been.”
She nodded. “Yes, yes, yes.”
“You’re mine?”
“Yes! Obviously.”
I laughed, a relieved smile spreading across my face. “I want to kiss you.”
“Maybe not your smartest move. I have more graduation stuff to do, but can I see you after? I have stuff to tell you. I want you to know first,” she said mysteriously.
“About what?”
She glanced back then. Someone had said her name. I checked and saw that it was Bailey, wide-eyed and gesturing for her to come on. She put a finger up and turned back to me.
“I’ll tell you after my party. And then we can decide how to proceed. Plan?”
“Whatever you want. We’ve waited long enough. What’s one more day?”
She took a step backward and nodded at me. I could see her heart in her eyes. She’d wanted this for so damn long. And so had I.
Whatever she had to tell me, I’d wait for that, too.
“I’ll be waiting,” I told her.
She smirked. “I know.”
Then, she hurried back to her friends and family. Whitt spoke to her, and I watched her shrug before she linked arms with Bailey and they buried their heads together. But Whitt turned back to look at me with narrowed eyes.
I didn’t want any trouble today.
It was her day.
So, I tipped my head at the Wrights and walked away.
In a matter of hours, she would be mine.
That was all that mattered after all.
24
Harley
“He came!” Bailey gushed into my ear.
“I know. I know. Shh!”
Bailey pulled me in closer. “Are you, like, fucking freaking out? Y’all haven’t spoken in months. You were going out of your fucking mind wondering if he’d be here. Or if you’d even fucking hear from him. And now, he’s here, in front of your whole fucking family.”
“I know,” I said, a shiver going down my spine. “I didn’t want to leave.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t kiss him.” Bailey shook her head. “If I were you, I’d have been half tempted to fuck his brains out right then and there.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Bailey!”
“What? You told me you did it before!”
“Yeah, but that was…not in front of anyone.”
She snorted. “Well, I wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“So, what did he say? What are you going to do?”
A smile returned to my face. “He said he’s all in. He wants to be with me.”
“Harley, you’re leaving for Harvard in a few months.”
I waved my hand. “I’ll deal with that. We’re going to meet up after my party to talk.”
“To fuck,” Bailey said under her breath.
“That too,” I said with a laugh. “But also to figure shit out. It’s been so long. I wasn’t sure it would ever actually happen.”
“And now? You’re going to tell your brothers? I love Whitt. He took Eve and me in when we were at our lowest, but he is going to fucking lose it. He hates the Sinclairs after what they did to Eve.”
“I know,” I said on a sigh. “He has reason to, and it’s going to suck. But…I don’t want to hide forever.”
“Maybe just go to Harvard and be long-distance and tell them some other time, like when you’re across the country.”
I shot her a look. “They’d hate that even more.”
“Well, it sounds safer.”
She wasn’t wrong. Truthfully, I didn’t know what to do about them. They all had real reasons to hate the Sinclairs. Between Chase and Annie, Ashleigh’s betrayal, the Sinclairs trying to steal Piper’s winery, and everything that had gone down with Eve, not to mention Arnold knocking up an employee and only getting a slap on the wrist, I, too, hated the idea of them. It had been instilled in me early.
Then Chase had happened.
I should hate him, but he wasn’t his family.
I wasn’t my family either.
But half the battle was admitting that we wanted to come clean. No more hiding. And then what?
That was what we had to figure out.
And I was more than ready to do that.
Two hours into my graduation party, and I was ready to leave.
Unfortunately, I was the guest of honor.
Even though more people were congratulating Whitt and Eve on their engagement than paying attention to me. Not that I minded. I’d helped plan the proposal to get them together without Eve knowing a thing. But it was hard enough that West and Nora were getting married in a month, which was insane with his current schedule, without a second wedding to plan.
“You look ready to run,” my mom said, passing me her signature cannoli.
I took a bite of the dessert. “God, these are amazing. I miss your cooking so much. Move down here?”
She laughed. “Just as you leave? You know I need to stay in Seattle for Grandma and Grandpa.”
I did know. Aging parents was its own challenge.
“So,” she said with a raised eyebrow, “I saw your young man at graduation.”
“Oh, well, yeah.”
“Is that still happening?”
“Well, no. We haven’t been together, but…maybe we will be?” I offered with a hitch in my voice.
“While you’re at Harvard?”
I shrugged. “See how it goes.”
“I liked him,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“Me too.”
She nudged me toward the side exit from Whitt’s backyard. “Go see him.”
“What? Mom, it’s my party.”
“And? You’re only half present. I know the look.”
I bit my lip. “Are you sure?”
“I’ll cover for you,” she insisted. “If anyone asks, I can gesture wildly about feminine hygiene products and blood.”
“Oh my God, Mom!”
She laughed and pushed me toward the door. “Go on. Get out of here.”
I kissed her cheek and did as she’d commanded. I texted Chase on the way out.
My mom did a jail break. Your place or mine?
Yours.
I smiled. He’d never been to my place. This year, Bailey and I had rented a house only a ten-minute walk from campus. It was tiny, and parking was shit, but it was worth it for the location.
When I got home, my eyes roamed the very small first floor, checking to make sure there wasn’t anything embarrassing still out. When I was satisfied, I did the same with my room. At least my bed was a very comfortable queen that I’d bought off of the previous owners. I had a feeling we were going to use it today.
Ten minutes later, a knock came on the door.
I opened it, and there he was. Still in the crisp navy-blue suit he’d worn to my graduation. But this time, he had a bouquet of black and wine-colored flowers in his grip. My mouth dropped at the display. My brothers and cousins had gotten me festive flowers that now filled my living room. Even my father had sent congratulatory pink roses—because he couldn’t know me less than to send pink roses.
But these...
These were so me. Dark and moody with a touch of Halloween and as black as my heart.
“Wow,” I breathed, taking them from him. “You did good.”
“They looked like you.”
“They’re amazing. I’ve never seen flowers like this.”
“I mean, they don’t do black hollyhock bouquets around here.”
My eyes lit up. “My favorite flower.”
“So purple that it’s almost black. Like a bruise.”
I was half ready to toss the entire bouquet and mount him properly for that answer. He must have seen it on my face because he smirked and drew me in for a kiss.
I melted into him. Mine. He was going to be mine. All mine. Finally. Finally fucking mine. That was the mantra my mind was playing over and over and over again as his tongue roved my mouth, and our lips moved against each other, and I felt all the tension evaporate from my body.
“I missed you,” I whispered.
He rested his forehead against mine. “So fucking much.”
“Let’s never do that again.”
“You’ve convinced me. Even when I tried to stay away from you, it was impossible.”
“I’m pretty irresistible,” I teased.
He slid his hands down and grasped my ass. “That you are.”
“I should show you the rest of the house.” I turned in place. “Here’s the whole thing.”
He snorted. “I haven’t seen your room yet.”
My head was fuzzy with need at those words. “Well, I could show you, but we have to talk first.”
“Do we?”
“Ye-yes,” I stammered out as he backed me toward a wall.
“Bailey going to be home soon?”
“She…she said she’d stay elsewhere tonight,” I murmured.
“Good.”
My back hit the wall with a thud. His eyes were molten with desire. My mouth went dry.
“But…”
“Need to fuck my girlfriend.”
He pushed his hands up the black minidress I’d worn to graduation, moving it over my hips.
“Girlfriend,” I whispered.
“That’s what you are, right?”
“Does that make you my boyfriend?”
The words tasted delicious on my tongue.
“Baby girl,” he said, his blue eyes so vibrant, “I will be whatever you want me to be. I waited all this time for you.”
“I never thought you would.”
He nodded. “Remember when you thought I was with Elsie that time at the Cosmere concert? The jealousy in your eyes?”
“Yes.”
“You never had any reason to be jealous.”
“Well, I mean…it’s been three years. I figure you were with other people.”
“I wasn’t.”
I froze at those words. “What?”
“I haven’t been with anyone else. It’s you. It’s always been you.”
Tears came to my eyes at the words that I’d longed to hear all this time. The ones that I’d held back out of fear that it wasn’t reciprocated. At the terror that it wasn’t going to work out. And now, he was saying everything I’d ever wanted to hear.
25
Harley
The world disappeared at those words.
There was just no other way to describe it.
My soul felt as if it had separated from my body. We were spiraling upward in a floating euphoria. A heavenly anthem to our long-awaited union.
My panties fell away, his slacks dropped, and then he was inside of me. A gasp left my mouth. We’d had so much sex over the years, and nothing compared to this moment. The one where I was his and he was mine.
Him holding me up against the wall of my house on the day of graduation. Sliding wet and hard deep into me. My hands holding on to his shoulders for dear life. My climax hit me like a freight train. I clawed his back to try to get closer to him as it rocketed through me.
He just carried me back to my bedroom. We fell backward onto the queen mattress. My hands moved to his face, bringing his lips back to meet mine. Then, there was nothing but rhythmic thrusts, panting need, and the deep desire we’d felt for so many years.
Then, his fingers tangled in my hair, tugging it backward. It was the perfect amount of friction to get me there all over again. And this time, we came undone together. He bucked into me as he held me tight. Then, we both collapsed. His weight lying heavy on me.
Finally, he slid out of me and rolled over.
He panted. “Fuck, you’re perfect.”
I tucked myself into his side. “We’re perfect together.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “That’s right.”
We were silent until our heartbeats went back to normal. Only then did I slide out of his arms and head to the bathroom. I cleaned up, and then Chase followed. A few minutes later, we were back in the bed, under the covers and wrapped up in each other. I was certain we were going to be doing the same thing on repeat all night.
His fingers threaded through my hair. So much longer than when I’d chopped it all off at Christmas. Now it was nearing mid-back.
“Do you like it long?”
“Doesn’t matter to me. Long, short, bangs, no bangs, blonde, dark.”
I laughed. “I’ve never been dark.”
“Which surprises me.”
“Can’t be Harley Quinn if I’m a brunette.”
“God, don’t remind me. I never wanted to have you so bad as when you were in that outfit.”
“I can wear it for you if you’d like.” I trailed sweet nothings into his chest with my fingers. “You can be my Joker.”
His grip tightened on my hip. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Oh, but that’s all I want to do.”
His hand came to my chin and drew me down to his lips again. We kissed like that, long and languid, as if we had all the time in the world. Because we did.
“You needed to talk to me,” he reminded me after a time.
“Yeah,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t want to anymore.”
“Because you chose Harvard?” he guessed.
“I did,” I admitted slowly. “Though…that isn’t all of it.”
“I had a feeling you would. Cambridge is nice. I used to go to Yale-Harvard games up there.” His eyes went distant. “I could probably come up once a month. I’m sure I could get away that often. My dad will hate it because the company comes first and blah, blah, blah, but we’ll make it work. I still want to do long-distance.”
“Chase…”
“I wouldn’t expect you to come back, except Christmases and summers. And maybe not summers if you’re clerking,” he said softly, as if he was considering it.
“Chase…”
“I could be with you in the summer though. Maybe we could get a place in Cambridge, and then I’d work remote for the summer.”
“Chase,” I repeated more forcefully.
His eyes snapped to mine. “Does that not work for you? Do you…not want to try long-distance?”
“I don’t,” I told him.
His face fell, and it broke my heart to see it. “Oh.”
“Because I’m not going to Harvard.”
“Come again?”
“I withdrew my acceptance.”
“You did what?” He came to a sitting position. His brow furrowed, and his expression was grim. “Harley, why would you do that?”
“Because I don’t want to be a lawyer.”
He opened and closed his mouth. “You don’t?”
“I’ve been saying it to you for years. I don’t know why it took me accepting Harvard and getting all the material and shit to really figure it out. But I spent the time that you gave me to think about it. I made my decision, and then…I realized it was the wrong one.”
“But what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to work at Wright.”
Chase’s frown deepened. “You are?”
“I already worked it out with Morgan,” I told him, mentioning my cousin and the current CEO. “I asked her not to tell anyone else yet because I wasn’t ready. But I’m going to work in human resources and deal with the development of better inclusion programs. Hopefully, next fall, I’ll get a Masters at Tech to supplement my work here. Maybe get a PhD later if I want to make myself even more of an expert in the field so that I can facilitate change in more Fortune 500 companies.”
“And that’s what you want to do?” he confirmed. “Nothing to do with…me?”
“You’re a bonus,” I said with a laugh.
“Well, good. I’m happy for you. I’m glad you figured out what you wanted to do. I wasn’t looking forward to you leaving, but I would have been there for you.”
I nodded. “I know. I just have to…figure out how to tell everyone else now. They’re all so proud of me.”
“You lit up, talking about what you want to do. That’s all they should care about.” He rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. “If you change your mind, law school is always available to you.”
“I don’t think I’ll change my mind, but this is it. This is what I’m planning.”
“You’re going to be magnificent.”
I snuggled in closer to him, a deep sense of relief falling on my shoulders. I’d been so worried about everything. Harvard. My dad. My future. And I decided to do exactly what Chase had told me. I took everything else out of the picture. And at the end of it, I hadn’t wanted Harvard.
I mean, I had. In the sense that I’d always thought I’d become a lawyer.
But it was the name that was the draw. The sense of accomplishment that I’d chased my whole life.
It wasn’t what I wanted. It’d have been three more years of difficult work that I wasn’t even sure I wanted. Someone else deserved that spot in the end. Not me.
I was so content that I nearly fell asleep in Chase’s arms when a knock came from the front door.
Chase yawned. “I thought Bailey wasn’t coming home.”
“I didn’t think she was. Maybe she had to get something and didn’t want to barge inside in case we were naked.”
